After spending nearly the last three years at Digital Kitchen Chicago, where he served as executive producer/general manager, Jeff Brecker has moved over to R/GA’s Windy City office to assume the role of managing director. Brecker replaces Sean McCarthy, who parted ways with the agency for the digital age last fall and is now in the same role at Resource Interactive.

Anyhow, the new R/GA Chicago MD has high praise for his new boss Bob Greenberg, saying in a statement that R/GA’s founder “…is one of the greatest visionaries of our time, and it’s an honor to work with and learn from him. R/GA Chicago has a reputation as a high-end digital boutique backed by a global agency leader known for creating progressive digital and social solutions.” Prior to his stint at Digital Kitchen, Brecker served as SVP/creative director at Leo Burnett and has also served as director of interactive production at Ogilvy during his career.

Wait, didn’t this just happen, like twice over recently? Well, yes, but R/GA appears to be opening up shop like Barnes & Noble in the late 90s/early aughts, the latest being an L.A. office, which has officially opened its doors just two months after the agency for the digital age settled in Sydney. The new Santa Monica branch marks R/GA’s second California-based space, following San Francisco of course, and currently houses five staffers with seven open positions that are in the process of being filled over the next couple of weeks. According to the IPG agency, the goal is to expand to 30 employees in its first year.

As for leadership, R/GA plucked several staffers from within including a few who worked on Nike business for years such as Tara Greer, ECD, experience design, Mark Laughlin, ECD, visual design, and Luke Stiles, senior technology director. Rounding out the management in the City of Angels are Andy Sullivan, MD/biz dev, senior producer Chris Sullivan and Steve Weinswig, currently VP/managing director at R/GA SF who will pull double-duty for the time being as interim managing director in LA.

In terms of clients, those in the know tell us that the R/GA L.A. crew is “working with an existing client that we aren’t able to disclose right now along with moving forward in some pitch work for clients in the area.”
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If the name Peter Kim sounds somewhat familiar, it’s because it was only two months ago that R/GA’s managing director, business information was appointed to the management team of the agency’s new Austin office. But alas, after spending just five months in all at “the agency for the digital age,” Kim has headed back to familiar territory, joining up with data-driven marketing firm Dachis Group, which he helped start back in 2008, to assume the newly created position of chief solutions architect.

Why the return to Dachis, where he was employee number one and originally served as chief strategy officer? Well, on his blog today, Kim explains that “I was pleasantly surprised by the progress that had been made during my absence. The tools are the most advanced offerings in market today and continuing to evolve. I also realized that the challenges that Dachis Group is solving for – how to help marketers make social business work – are the same challenges that have been driving me ever since I joined Forrester Research in 2005. These issues were initially unknown at the advent of corporate social media; identifying the knowable and moving clients into the known is immensely satisfying for me.”

We’re checking to see if R/GA has a replacement planned for Kim, who in his new role at his old haunt will be responsible for “the continuous definition, development, and delivery of data-driven social marketing solutions for Dachis Group’s global clients and client prospects.”

It’s been in the works for a while now, but R/GA has now officially opened its doors in Sydney, making this the 12th office in the IPG-owned agency’s network. The news comes just a month after “the agency for the digital age” set up shop in Austin to focus on its mobile and social business capabilities.

As for the office Down Under, R/GA’s initial plan is to hire six full-timers by February and build staff count to nine by end of Q1. The Sydney branch already has three in the bag, though, including R/GA vet/managing director Ameer Youssef as well as new hires, ECD Gavin McLeod (we know you’re humming The Love Boat theme as we speak) and creative director Joshua Rowe. The aforementioned Aussie natives previously served as creative director at Whybin TBWA / Integer and ACD at M&C Saatchi, respectively. As for Youssef, the R/GA camp says the MD will help build the office and once it’s in place, he will find a long-term replacement for this position.

R/GA Sydney will initially stay local on the client front, servicing the likes of Qantas and Rip-Curl.

The self-proclaimed “agency for the digital age” continues its expansion as R/GA has now opened its doors in downtown Austin. The new office, which by our count marks the tenth in the agency’s global network, currently houses 15 staffers and will focus on R/GA’s mobile and social business capabilities. Leading the team, though from afar at R/GA’s NYC HQ, will be Richard Ting, who’s been with R/GA for over a decade and was most recently bumped up to EVP, global ECD, mobile and social platforms.

Joining Ting in overseeing the new Austin office are fellow R/GA cohorts Kyle Bunch, who’s been with the agency for over five years and serves as group director, mobile and social platforms, ECD Paul Dery, Katrina Bekessy, director, technology and design, and last but not least, Peter Kim, managing director, business transformation. After setting up the new Austin branch for the last few weeks, R/GA officially opened up shop within the last. The expects to grow the office, located in downtown’s Littlefield Building, to between 30 and 50 staffers by end of 2013.

While we’re on the R/GA tip, we got a link to a rather amusing effort from the agency, which would not officially comment on the matter, that lets people “Break Up with Cable” via a meme-maker. It’s part of a campaign for Verizon FiOS and we’ve posted a couple of our fave ones created after the jump. You can also customize your own and have fun at Time Warner or some other provider’s expense. We think Patrick Stewart would probably get a kick out of this. Maybe you will, too.

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Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Sean McCarthy, who has spent nearly three years as VP, managing director at R/GA’s Chicago office, is leaving the “agency for the digital age,” though we’ve yet to hear word on exactly where he’s headed to next. McCarthy has been with R/GA since the IPG agency officially set up shop in the Windy City in early 2010. Prior to R/GA, the exec spent 18 months as SVP/group account director at DDB Chicago, where he oversaw direct, digital and mass efforts for AT&T’s B2B business.

McCarthy spent the majority of his advertising career, though, at Draftfcb, working on the account side in both London and Chicago before finally spending six years as VP/management director at the latter office. From what we hear, McCarthy turned in his resignation at R/GA last week. We’ll keep you posted if and when we hear more.

The “agency for the digital age” recently brought on a pair of Aussie ad guys, namely John McKelvey and Hannes Ciatti (pictured l-r), who have both spent the last two years as senior creatives at Whybin\TBWA. The lads from Down Under join R/GA’s New York hub as creative directors working across the agency’s Nike and Google accounts.

Before their TBWA days, McKelvey and Ciatti, whose creative foundation lies in copywriting and art directing, respectively, worked at different agencies with the latter serving as digital CD at Saatchi Australia as well as a creative partner at Droga5 Sydney while the former served as senior art director at M&C Saatchi’s Mark division. The new hires will report R/GA EVP/global CCO and fellow Aussie native, Nick Law.

We’ve received confirmation that after just 11 months into his role as group executive creative director on the Nike account, among others, at R/GA, Steve Whittier is leaving the “agency for the digital age.” No further details have been provided, but during his brief stint at R/GA, Whittier also worked on Nike-owned Converse, Verizon and new business. The creative exec joined R/GA from Y&R, where he spent 18 months as North American integrated CD and worked on the Airwalk as well as the global Land Rover launch. We’ll keep you posted if and when we hear more on his last day, next venture, etc.

The Third Man Records HQ in Nashville has been a little emptier as of late as Matthew Jacobson, most recently head of design at the aforementioned label owned by Jack White, has been tapped to do the same at Digitas Chicago and San Francisco. Jacobson spent a year as design head at Third Man, working on packaging and vinyl production as well as record art for the likes of Beck and of course, The White Stripes and Raconteaurs. The new Digitas exec, who officially assumes the title of VP/group director, design lead, is no stranger to the agency world, though, having served as an art director at Cramer-Krasselt and SVP/group creative director at JWT/Team Detroit during his career.

Along with Third Man and his various agency gigs, Jacobson runs his own imprint called Le Grand Magistery and has freelanced for the likes of Pentagram and indie stalwart, Merge Records. In his new role, Jacobson will work out of Digitas’s Chicago office.

Word on the Spy line has been building over the last two days that Leif Abraham, creative director at R/GA New York for the past three years who’s perhaps best known for his Cannes Cyber Lion-winning “Pay with a Tweet” project (above), is leaving his day job and heading to the West Coast. Abraham, along with partner-in-crime and fellow R/GA CD Christian Behrendt, forms the dynamic creative duo of “Innovative Thunder,” which is also behind efforts such as “Track Me”, the “Social Interview” as well as various campaigns for DJ Hero. No official word back yet from the R/GA camp and/or where Abraham’s headed to, but we’ll keep you posted.